Run and Remember
by scribblingnellie
Summary: The post-Doctor life.. "It didn't occur to Nyssa to wonder why there was a noise trying to get her attention, a noise that she could almost see. Strange things never made her wonder anymore..." My first Doctor Who fanfic with two of my favourite companions. Another one-off late night story. Enjoy.


_What marks you out? What is it about having travelled_

_time and space that leaves its impression upon you?_

1.

Like any other day, Nyssa queued for her morning cup of tea. It was fascinating how easily she had fitted into Earth ways. It had been his favourite planet, not always something he would have admitted to she was sure, and now she had begun to appreciate his like for it.

There were familiar faces and backs of heads as the queue made its way towards the counter. Nyssa contemplated a biscuit to go with her tea. It would make a nice change, and this morning she felt like having a biscuit.

Something was there.

In between the everyday sounds of the coffee shop – steam from the coffee machine, crashing of cups onto saucers, early morning chatter. Nyssa could hear it, like a low whispering, threading its way through the chairs and tables, up and over the cake display. Quickly turning, Nyssa felt it wrap around her legs and then dash off across the room, flitting over the heads of those inside. Almost as though it were trying to get her attention, to tell her something. The whispering grew louder in her ears. Nyssa knew there was something wrong, something happening that shouldn't be. Happening to someone she had to help.

Someone caught her out of the corner of her eye. Sat alone, at a table by the window. A young woman, mug cradled in her hands, looking out over the river. Waiting. Something about the lonely young woman struck Nyssa, and reminded her of herself. And then the whispering noise took hold of Nyssa's ears. As though it knew she'd noticed and that she saw what it was trying to tell her. Dancing around her long brown hair, bouncing off, diving under the table, the whispering gathered around the lonely young woman.

And the young woman looked up. Nyssa knew she could feel , could hear the sound as well. Her eyes darted about – above her, to the table, to the floor, suddenly shifting her boots as though something ran over them.

Who was she? Why her?

It didn't occur to Nyssa to wonder why there was a noise trying to get her attention, a noise that she could almost see. Strange things never made her wonder anymore. When you've seen time and space wrapped inside an impossible box, nothing is strange anymore.

"May I join you?"

The young woman snapped her head up, looking a little confused. Nyssa caught her breath as she looked into the young woman's deep brown eyes. There she saw it, and she knew what the noise was trying to tell her. There was time and space and the loneliness she'd felt herself after it all ended.

"Can you hear it too?" The young woman shifted in her seat, eyes flicking back and forth, as though something was trying to wrap itself around her, ".. because it's starting to freak me out a bit and I normally don't get freaked out by weird stuff."

"Yes," said Nyssa, sitting down opposite her, "I can hear it. I think it's trying to tell me something."

"Really? It feels like it's trying to tie me to the chair so I can't get away.. sorry.. that just sounds ridiculous and I've only just met you…"

"Trust me, nothing sounds, or is, ridiculous. Not when you've been travelling. I'm Nyssa."

The young woman looked at the hand Nyssa proffered, and shook it.

"Clara."

And Nyssa knew that then was the moment. She'd kept it with her; somehow she couldn't bear not to have it near her, for just a time like this. Though no idea how she'd come to acquire it, she knew exactly what it was. And what lock it opened. And now she took it from her bag and placed it on the table between them.

The key glowed.

The young woman froze, her eyes fixed on the object before her.

"It's just like…" and she suddenly rummaging in her bag, desperately trying to find something. Yanking it out, she deposited the object on the table.

A key, glowing just as subtly as Nyssa's. And exactly alike. However they had acquired them, both women had a Tardis key.

"She hated me," said Clara, running her finger along her key, "I don't know what I did to upset her though. I don't think she ever really liked me. But she sent me a key. That probably means something... everything means something with the Doctor."

"And not usually something simple," added Nyssa as they smiled at each other.

2.

They told and listened intently to each other's story.

Losing a parent, trying to find who they were, what they wanted, where they belonged.

"Does he usually go for the damaged ones, the ones who need saving?" asked Clara.

Nyssa smiled at the question. The Doctor liked to collect people around him – sometimes just the two of them, sometimes a few others as well. It had struck Nyssa that somewhere inside him he felt guilty, that he wanted to make it up to someone, to something. And reaching out to those who needed help was his way.

"I met all of them. Every Doctor there's been..."

Nyssa shook her head at the mere thought of knowing so much, of holding so much knowledge about a Time Lord. Clara looked happy, yet slightly unnerved.

"I made that choice, to step into his time stream.."

"And you survived it?"

Nyssa knew something of metaphysical and physical existences, the overlapping consciousness of being a Time Lord. But to willingly step into a dead Time Lord's time stream was a terrifying thought. Her admiration for this young woman grew.

"He came for me, came to save me when he shouldn't have. Took us both back through into existence… I miss him." Clara pushed her half empty mug round on the spot.

Nyssa remembered how she had left her doctor, how she regretted it some days and was glad she had on others.

"We all leave the Doctor eventually. Because he won't make that decision, to leave you, you have to leave him. As much as it hurts, you have to do it for him."

Clara's breath caught, and she let out a sob. Nyssa covered Clara's hand with her own, her heart aching for the lonely, sad, almost terrified look in her eyes. It so reminded her of Tegan. Scared, excited, unsure.

"He left me," whispered Clara.

Her voice stumbled, tears held at the corners of her eyes. Nyssa squeezed Clara's hands as she felt her heart breaking for this young woman.

"You saved him when he was dying, Nyssa. He forgot you but he remembered and came back. My doctor.. he's gone."

Her shaking hand hovered over her Tardis key, its glow started to fade.

"I walked in his time stream, I saved him. But he forgot me.. and he ran."


End file.
